Dodging the Lightning
by MadTom
Summary: Letting Sarah Jean Dawes go to the chair in RIDING THE LIGHTNING was just plain WRONG! Who the hell does Gideon think he is playing God?
1. Chapter 1

DODGING THE LIGHTNING

by

Lyle Francis Padilla

(aka MadTom)

This is my first _Criminal Minds_ fanfic. I would have written this sooner but I was waiting for the Ion or CW network to rerun _Riding the Lightning_ so I could record it and get all the details right.

I've always thought that Gideon was just plain _wrong_ in letting Sarah Jean Dawes go to the chair knowing what he knew, and that Hotch was complicit, in relaying to Morgan and Greenway that Byron Sheffield wasn't Sarah Jean's son, knowing what _he_ knew.

But if you'll look at my other fanfics, you'll see that I like to bring fictional characters back from the dead to set things right. It's what I do best on ff dot net. I had to do this!

* * *

"Mr. Sheffield, I'm... I'm sorry," Derek Morgan said. "We have the wrong house. I'm sorry for any inconvenience." He and Elle Greenaway started back toward their SUV.

"Agent," Frank Sheffield said, glancing toward his wife and seventeen year old son still sitting in their own vehicle. The two BAU agents stopped.

"Yes, sir?" Morgan replied.

"Does this have anything to do with the execution of Sarah Jean Dawes?"

Morgan and Greenaway took a long look at each other, both nonverbally asking, _What now?_ Greenaway started to speak into her phone.

"Well, sir," Morgan sighed as he held his hand up to Greenaway, "I believe that all depends on what you and Mrs. Sheffield are willing to share with us."

Frank turned slowly to his wife, avoiding eye contact with his son, then gave her a pained and frightened look and gave his head an almost imperceptible jerk.

"Stay in the car, Honey," Gayle Sheffield said softly to her son, then got out and joined her husband in front of the car, her apprehension matching his.

"Excuse us," Frank said to the two BAU agents. Morgan and Greenaway watched as the couple had a brief and tense whispered conversation.

Gayle stifled a sob into her husband's shoulder, then said aloud, "You're right. I can't live like this anymore, Frank! We should've never let it come to this. _We_ should've come to _them_!"

The couple took an excruciatingly slow walk toward Morgan. _Come on!_ Morgan thought. _This is Life and Death here!_

"Agent," Gayle said, "is there _any_ way we can stop Sarah Jean's execution without my son knowing we're involved?"

Greenaway punched a speed dial button on her phone and paused. "Hotch," she continued into the phone, "the parents are talking to Morgan right now! They've come around and want to stop the execution!"

Morgan glanced at his watch as he said quietly but firmly, "Mrs. Sheffield, I don't know if we _can_ stop the execution at this point. But at the very least, we'll need a DNA sample from your son to prove who he is."

"What do you need?" Gayle asked with continued nervousness. "A blood sample? A mouth swab?"

"A mouth swab will be enough," Morgan nodded.

"But he'll know what it's for!" Gayle replied.

Morgan paused before replying. "Maybe not! If you can give me his toothbrush and replace it with a new one before the next time he normally brushes..."

"Derek!" Greenaway interrupted him. She turned pale and moved her phone a few inches from her face. "Hotch says they've just taken her into the death chamber and the warden refuses to stall the execution any longer!" The others turned pale as well.

"Don't give up yet!" Morgan said to the other three adults as he grabbed his own phone and punched in a speed dial number. "This is Special Agent Derek Morgan of the FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit. Please put me through to the Governor. This is urgent. I understand he's standing by for information pertaining to Sarah Jean Dawes."

* * *

SSA Jason Gideon had fulfilled Sarah Jean Dawes's last request. She was strapped into the electric chair and, as he sat on the other side of the window, his was the last face she saw- and peacefully smiled at- before they lowered the hood.

She sat in the darkness, awaiting death. Would she "ride the lightning" as her husband Jacob, executed just an hour ago, said they would? Or would it just come as nothingness? But what came next was a frantic pounding almost directly in front of her.

Warden Diehl couldn't believe his own eyes and ears. For the first time in his career, his prison was executing two prisoners on the same day, and in both cases just before the switch was to be thrown, someone had rushed into the viewing gallery of the death chamber and slapped a piece of paper up against the thick plexiglas panel. For Jacob Dawes, it was Agent Hotchner showing a photo of the Daweses' now teenage son whom he had believed Sarah Jean had murdered as a toddler. Hotchner had yelled, "You lose!"

For Sarah Jean's execution, the interruptor was Diehl's own Senior Deputy Warden, and the piece of paper was for him: a fax or printout of a graphic EMail attachment with the letterhead of the Office of the Governor and signed by Governor Jeb Bush himself.

"Stop everything!" Diehl shouted at the executioner. "Lift up her hood."

Every muscle in Sarah Jean's body was taut. As the hood flap came up, she saw that she was still strapped to the chair and facing a now shocked and disbelieving audience in the gallery, including a particularly stupefied Jason Gideon. Either the execution had been given an interruption unwanted by her, or it had indeed taken place and she was now in Hell.

Diehl came up in front of her and said gently, "Sarah Jean, the Governor has granted a stay of execution as new information and evidence that have come to light are evaluated."

He rolled his eyes and sighed as he observed that Sarah Jean Dawes's reaction to the last minute intrusion was exactly the same that of as her now dead husband:

"NOOooOOoo!"

* * *

**Author's notes:**

**TO BE CONTINUED**

**Well, how am I doing so far in the _Criminal Minds_ universe? Please let me know.**

**I know they never mention the Governor of Florida by name, but since they always have an official photo of the incumbent POTUS on a wall at the BAU office, since George W. Bush exists in the _Criminal Minds_ universe, logically so does his brother.**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"They stopped it in time!" Greenaway said with a particularly heavy sigh. She was immediately joined by Morgan, and by Frank and Gayle Sheffield who began sobbing in each other's arms.

"Thank God!" Gayle breathed.

"Hotch says Sarah Jean was actually strapped in with the hood down," Greenaway continued, "and they were probably within a minute of throwing the switch when the Deputy Warden came in with the stay from the Governor."

Morgan briefly glanced over at seventeen year old Byron Sheffield still sitting alone in his parents' car with a confused and worried look. He let the Sheffields continue to cry for several more seconds, then said softly, "Mr. and Mrs. Sheffield, I think the best way to handle this is for us to come back later after your son's asleep. In fact, if you can tell us the brand, type and color of toothbrush he has, we passed a couple of 24-hour pharmacies not too far away from here. We'll try to get one exactly like it and with luck, he won't even notice it's a different toothbrush."

Gayle composed herself, then gave Morgan the information. Morgan handed the Sheffields a business card and said, "Call us _after_ you're sure Byron's asleep."

"Thank you, Agent-" Frank looked at the card "-Morgan."

* * *

Sarah Jean Dawes strained against the leather straps around her wrists and ankles, screaming "God damn you! Let me die! Kill me!"

"Close the curtain!" Warden Diehl directed.

As one of the Corrections Officers drew the curtain cords, Sarah Jean glared venomously through the plexiglas panel. "God damn you, Jason Gideon! Why did you have to do this?"

Gideon remained dumbfounded. "I had nothing to do with this!" he managed to yell back before the curtains closed.

"Warden, do we unstrap her?" the ranking Corrections Officer shouted over Sarah Jean's continued screaming.

"Not yet!" Diehl looked at the tension on the straps, then turned to the prison doctor, who had been standing by to pronounce Sarah Jean dead after the electrocution. "Doctor, do you have something to sedate her with?"

"In my office," the doctor replied.

"Get it!" Diehl nodded, then turned back to the ranking Corrections Officer: "Wait until she's sedated before unstrapping her, then take her back to her cell and keep her under suicide watch!" He drew a deep breath, then turned to the still struggling and screaming convict, placing his hand firmly on her shoulder. "I'm sorry you had to go through this, Sarah Jean. But I'm not sorry they stopped us! Not if you can be proven innocent!"

"God damn you all!" she screamed back. "Let me die! Kill me! _Please!_"

Diehl drew another deep breath and stepped out of the chamber. He stopped in the hall and took the hard copy of the Stay of Execution from the Senior Deputy Warden, who had managed to extricate himself from the Gallery. Diehl then continued into the Gallery, which was in total chaos with most of the attendees standing up and shouting or crying.

"Ladies and Gentlemen!" Diehl called out. It took several seconds for the room to quiet down. "The Governor has given Sarah Jane Dawes a stay of execution." He paused for the resultant murmur. "New evidence has been brought to light which raises significant questions as to her guilt. Her conviction has not been reversed or vacated and her death sentence has not been lifted, but the execution has been postponed indefinitely pending review of the new evidence by the Attorney General. That is all the information we have at this time."

The Gallery began to empty after he stepped out. Aaron Hotchner fought his way through the door against the crowd flow and sat next to Gideon, who had his elbows on his lap and his face in his hands and then lifted his head to face him.

"What happened?" Gideon asked.

"The Sheffields figured out why Morgan and Elle were there," Hotch replied. "They wanted to stop the execution and clear Sarah Jean's name if they could keep Riley from finding out he was her son."

"Did they?"

"So far. They're still working it out. Morgan and Elle aren't going to have contact with Riley or swab his cheek for DNA. They're going to leave and go back later, and the Sheffields are going to give them his toothbrush after he goes to sleep." Hotch glanced over at the closed curtain of the execution chamber. "Gideon, we really shaved this one close."

"She was ready to die. She wanted to do. Still does from what we can hear coming out of there."

Hotch's jaw dropped. "That's not the point! Riley Dawes is alive and you and I knew it! And we almost let an innocent woman- his mother- get put to death for his murder!"

* * *

Morgan was on his way from the Toothbrush and Toothpaste aisle to the checkout at the pharmacy, with Greenaway waiting in the SUV, when his phone rang. He looked at the Caller ID and saw that it was "STATE OF FLORIDA" with a Tallahassee Area Code.

"Derek Morgan," he answered.

"Good evening, Agent Morgan," a man spoke. "This is the Office of the Governor of Florida calling. Please hold for a call from the Governor."

"Yes, sir."

He waited only a couple of seconds before a different but now familiar voice came on. "Hello, Agent Morgan, it's Jeb Bush again. How are you holding up tonight?"

"I'm fine, Governor. I'm used to it. And yourself?"

"I'm fine too, but I'm sure glad we don't have this kind of crisis happening every night. And I'm sure that you do too!"

"Yes, sir!" Morgan managed to laugh.

"And I'm sorry I had to keep our earlier conversation so short!"

"That's okay, Governor! Time was definitely of the essence!"

"It sure was!" the Governor laughed. "Listen, I just got off the phone with Warden Diehl. I don't know if you're aware exactly how close we came to being too late for Ms. Dawes. He tells me they were about twenty to thirty seconds from throwing the switch when the Stay of Execution reached the death chamber."

"Yes, sir. I just spoke to SSA Hotchner, my Unit Chief, a little while ago. He's been at the prison the whole time."

"Your Behavioral Analysis Unit did excellent work today, Agent Morgan. In a little over twenty-four hours, you took us from having every indication that Sarah Jean Dawes cold-bloodedly murdered her own son and deserved to die along with her husband, to finding her son alive with strong indication that she was innocent of all capital crimes. That's something else that doesn't happen every day!"

"No, sir, not even for us!" Morgan laughed again. "The whole team deserves the credit."

"I'm sure. Listen, the President and our dad and I are getting together for a fishing trip next weekend. I'm going to be sure to put in a good word with the President for your whole team."

"Thank you, sir!"

"And I'm going to put in an especially good word for you, Agent Morgan!"

"Oh, no, sir! That won't be necessary!"

"I insist, Agent Morgan! For you and your partner Agent..."

"Greenaway, sir. Elle Greenaway. It's not an initial. That's E-L-L-E."

"Got it. And don't downplay your part in this, Agent Morgan. Another thing Warden Diehl told me is that your people who stayed at the prison seemed aware that you and Agent Greenaway had apparently found the young man in question. But for whatever reason, they didn't feel certain enough to pass that information on to me. If you'd tried to go back through your chain of command instead of taking the initiative to call me directly, it definitely would've been too late for Ms. Dawes!" The Governor paused, then said, "Can you put Agent Greenaway on the phone?"

"She's outside in our vehicle. I'm actually at a drugstore buying a toothbrush. A _very_ specific kind of toothbrush, as part of our trying to keep the young man in question from finding out that he _is_ the young man in question!"

"Oh, yes. I think I understand that part. And you have my assurance that the Attorney General will do his best toward that effort as well. Could you give me Agent Greenaway's number?"

"Same number as mine, Governor, except for the last digit. Hers is eight."

"All right. A pleasure talking to you again, Agent Morgan. And again, I'll be sure to tell the President about the outstanding job you did. Good night."

* * *

**Author's notes:**

**Okay, in the interest of full disclosure, I've been a hardcore Republican even before I was naturalized and registered to vote 36 years ago, and former President George H. W. Bush is tied with General Douglas MacArthur as the most famous person I've ever met. But the conversation at the end of this chapter is not just a partisan plug for the Bush family. There will be implications in upcoming chapters!**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

In returning to the prison from their hotel, the BAU drove their vehicles past more or less the same gauntlet of outraged protesters that were picketing outside the fence when they left well after midnight that morning, with signs mostly reading "Burn in Hell, Sarah Jean" and "Death to the Ice Queen". To their chagrin, once back inside the command and control center, the same scene was displayed in High-Def glory on the center's large-screen TV.

"The entire state of Florida is reeling this morning," the news anchor reported in a voice over, "at the literally last minute reprieve last night for Death Row inmate Sarah Jean Dawes an hour after her husband Jacob was executed in the electric chair. The couple were both scheduled to be executed for the rape and murder of thirteen teenage girls in and around Bradford county as well as their own two year old son Riley. Governor Jeb Bush issued a Stay of Execution which reached the death chamber _after_ Sarah Jane Dawes had been strapped and connected to the chair. We are now going live to Tallahassee for a news conference at the Florida Department of Justice."

The image cut to a podium at the front of an auditorium, as a short-haired Latino man of about thirty and in a suit took the microphone. The BAU members noticed that behind him was the Dawes's appeals attorney, who appeared as haggard and sleep-deprived as those watching at the prison command center, having been whisked away to Tallahassee on a State Police helicopter shortly after the execution was halted, for a meeting with the state Attorney General's Office.

"Good morning. I am Humberto Guzman, Assistant Attorney General for the State of Florida," the man at the podium began, then gestured behind him. "This gentleman is Mr. Samuel Shapiro, the appeals attorney for Sarah Jean Dawes. I will begin with a statement and then open it up for questions.

"Last night at 8:06 PM, convicted serial killer Jacob Dawes was executed in Florida's electric chair for the crimes of raping and murdering thirteen teenage girls and disposing of their bodies under the foundations of his own home, his mother-in-law's house and other locations where he had done work as a building contractor, as well as murdering his own two year old son Riley and disposing of his body at an unknown location. His wife and Riley Dawes's mother, Sarah Jean Dawes, was scheduled to be executed an hour later for the aggravated murder of Riley Dawes. She was also convicted as an accomplice in her husband's other crimes and for obstruction of justice.

"Just prior to Sarah Jane Dawes's scheduled execution, credible evidence was brought to the attention of Governor Bush that Riley Dawes is still alive and that Sarah Jane Dawes had given him to another couple to be raised as their own child." Guzman paused several seconds for the anticipated loud gasp and clamor of his audience in the room.

"As Sarah Jane Dawes's death sentence was specifically for the aggravated murder of her son," he continued, "and not for any of her other crimes, Governor Bush immediately issued a Stay of Execution for Ms. Dawes.

"This stay is indefinite, pending investigation of the evidence by the Florida Department of Justice. Sarah Jane Dawes's convictions for the murder of Riley Dawes and her other crimes have not been reversed or vacated, and her death sentence remains in effect.

"There was no legal action of any kind submitted or contemplated with regard to Jacob Dawes. This Stay of Execution would not have stopped his execution or delayed it in any way, or have affected his status regarding any of his convictions, even if the information had come to light before his execution.

"The evidence to be examined consists of a DNA sample, obtained by law enforcement, of the young man believed to be Riley Dawes. Riley Dawes would be seventeen years old if he is indeed alive. The young man in question is likewise stated to be seventeen and, as a minor, his identity is being and will continue to be withheld. The DNA sample will be compared to those already on file of both Sarah Jean Dawes and Jacob Dawes."

Morgan whispered to Hotch, "I like the way he worded that. _Not_ mentioning that he is unaware of his identity may help keep Byron Sheffield from thinking that _he_ is 'the young man in question.'" Hotch nodded in concurrence.

"If the DNA sample proves to be that of Riley Dawes," Guzman continued, "the case will be immediately brought back before the courts with recommendation for vacating the death sentence and reversal of the murder conviction. Governor Bush and Attorney General Crist will then review all other options regarding the remaining convictions for Sarah Jane Dawes.

"If, on the other hand, the DNA sample proves _not_ to be that of Riley Dawes, the additional information that came to light suggesting that he might be alive will be further investigated. If that investigation yields no further proof that Sarah Jane Dawes is innocent of the murder of her son Riley, the Governor has expressed his intention to set another execution date.

"Mr. Shapiro and I are now open for questions."

After the clamor rose and died down again, Guzman pointed into the crowd of journalists.

"Mr. Shapiro!" a reporter asked. "People who were present to witness the execution tell us that Sara Jane Dawes was actually connected and strapped into the chair when the Stay of Execution reached the Warden. Why were you unable to request the stay any earlier?"

Shapiro glanced down at the floor before replying. "My law firm and I did not initiate the request for a stay, nor did we discover the information. I have to thank the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI for that." That stirred up another murmur.

"How did the FBI become involved in this case?" another reporter asked.

Guzman spoke into the podium mike. "In the interest of protecting the identity of the young man we believe to be Riley Dawes, as well as affording Sarah Jean Dawes a fair and impartial investigation with regard to this matter, Mr. Shapiro and the Florida Department of Justice have agreed not to release that information at this time."

Hotch turned to JJ. "That lets us off the hook for any press conference at this end."

"Mr. Shapiro!" another reporter called out. "People who were in the death chamber gallery say that Sarah Jean Dawes was extremely distressed when the Stay of Execution arrived, that she actually _wanted_ the execution to take place. Would you care to comment on that?"

"Well, considering everything my client has been through, I'm sure you understand how traumatic that particular experience was. Other than that, no comment."

"What I mean is," the same reporter shouted again, "how does your client's wish to die, and the fact that your office did _not_ initiate the introduction of the new information and evidence, reconcile with the fact that the Stay of Execution did take place?"

Shapiro hesitated. "Again, in the interest of my client getting a fair investigation on the new information, we have no comment."

"Mr. Guzman," another reporter asked, "a few hours before the scheduled execution of the Dawses, the FBI issued a photo of what appeared to be a teenage boy, treating him as a missing person, and then quickly withdrew the bulletin. Did this photo have any connection to the Dawes case?"

"The Florida Attorney General's Office is not aware of any connection, no," Guzman replied, glancing over to Shapiro, who shrugged his shoulders but said nothing.

"Did the parents of the young man alleged to be Riley Dawes come forward on their own," the last reporter followed up, "or did the FBI seek them out?"

"That information is being withheld at this time," Guzman replied.

After other reporters essentially rephrased the questions and received the same answers, the news anchor's voiceover came back on. "We'll bring you the highlights of this press conference later in this broadcast. Again, in a series of events that has stunned the entire state of Florida, Governor Jeb Bush issued a Stay of Execution for Sarah Jean Dawes based on evidence that her son Riley, whom she was about to be executed for murdering at the age of two, may actually be alive."

The image of the TV anchor at her desk came to the screen and she proceeded into a teleconference with two lawyers with no connection to the case who nevertheless offered their commentary. One of the Corrections Officers in the room muttered an obscenity and lowered the volume to just barely audible.

"Hotch," Gideon said softly, "I think now would be a good time for me to go down to Sarah Jean's cell and see how she's doing."

Hotch's eyes briefly betrayed a _You're kidding me, right?_ look, but all he said was, "Suit yourself."

Morgan and Greenaway waited until Gideon stepped out before coming up to Hotch.

"Hey, Hotch," Morgan said at barely above a whisper, "Elle and I didn't get a chance to talk to you about this when we got back from Keystone Heights last night, but the Governor called both of us back after he'd had a chance to talk with Warden Diehl. He was already aware that Sarah Jean was actually strapped in and they were about to throw the switch. He commended Elle and me for going directly to him instead of through the chain of command."

Hotch looked at both of them for a few seconds before saying, "And you two are not all that thrilled about this because...?"

"Because the Governor is getting together with his brother and father this weekend," Greenaway said.

"As in the incumbent and former Presidents of the United States," Hotch nodded.

"And the good Governor," Greenaway continued, "insists on putting in a good word for the whole team with the incumbent President."

"Even though we both told him that wouldn't be necessary," Morgan added. "Hotch, from what we hear about what happened on this end, this could end up flowing downhill and biting some of us in the ass!"

* * *

"Open Four!" the female Corrections Officer called out as Gideon stepped into the corridor in the Death House. The electronic door to Sarah Jean's cell unlocked and slid open. "Good morning, sir."

Gideon nodded to the officer in acknowledgement of the greeting, as he stepped in front of the open doorway, then turned to face Sarah Jean- only to get struck in the face as she hurled one of her canvas-topped deck shoes at him.

"AAARGH!" Sarah Jean screamed and rushed toward Gideon, clawing for his eyes, her enraged animalistic appearance made more inhuman by her shaved head. His arms already raised from the shoe throwing, he caught her wrists. The Corrections Officer stepped forward and joined him in restraining her arms and shoving her back inside the cell.

"Close Four!" the Corrections Officer shouted.

Sarah Jean fell to the floor where she grabbed her other shoe and hurled it at Gideon. It bounced off the inside of the rapidly closing door. She stayed on the floor, sitting with her back against the far cinderblock wall, then hunched over with her face in her hands.

"You sonofabitch!" she sobbed. "You've ruined everything! You've ruined Riley's life! You've ruined my legacy to him!"

"Sarah Jean, I already told you! I had nothing to do with the Stay. You heard me tell Agent Hotchner to call off our agents, and he did."

"You sent them there in the first place! That was enough! I was ready to die and let my son grow up not knowing the horror of who his real parents are. You ruined everything, you sonofabitch!"

Gideon turned back to the Corrections Officer. "Has she been like this all morning?"

"No, sir," she replied softly. "She was completely sedated when they brought her back from the execution chamber. She awoke at about three AM, curled up into a fetal position in bed and just cried the rest of the morning. She was angry at the Warden when he came in a couple of hours ago, but she didn't try to attack him."

Gideon slowly crouched down and picked up Sarah Jean's shoe from the floor and slid it between the bars near its pair. As he stood up, he took out his phone and dialed.

"Morgan, can you and Elle come down here? I need you two to talk to Sarah Jean about what happened on your end last night."

* * *

Gideon stepped out of the corridor for the few minutes it took Morgan and Greenaway to walk there. After Gideon filled them in, the three of them went down the corridor to Cell Four; this time the Corrections Officer knew not to call for its opening. Still sitting on the floor with her back gainst the wall, Sarah Jean looked up to resume her venomous glare at Gideon and then turn it toward the two newcomers.

"Sarah Jean," Gideon said, "I'd like you to meet two of my colleagues, Agents Elle Greenaway and Derek Morgan."

"God damn all of you!" she glared. "God damn the whole FBI! You've ruined my life!"

"Ma'am," Morgan sighed, "excuse me, but we couldn't have ruined your life. If we hadn't intervened, you wouldn't have a life for us to have ruined."

"That's what I wanted, you bastard!"

"It sure didn't sound that way ," Greenaway said, "from the letter your mother showed us."

Sarah Jean's venom intensified. "_You_ violated my privacy!"

"Once your mother showed us the letter, there _was_ no more privacy," Greenaway replied.

"You couldn't leave my mother alone!"

"We almost did, " Morgan said, "but we're glad we didn't, and someday you will be too."

"Screw you!"

"And we were about to walk away from the Sheffields after telling them we had the wrong house," Morgan continued. "_They_ figured out why we were there. _They_ knew you were innocent. _They_ wanted to stop the execution."

"Only because you showed up. If you'd left them alone, I'd be dead now and this would all be over."

Morgan smiled. "And that's a bad thing because...?"

"Because my son is going to grow up knowing what a scumbag serial murderer his biological gather was!" Sarah Jean began sobbing again.

"Oh!" Morgan's smile became a smirk. "If that's all that's bothering you, then your worries are over!"

"How the hell can you say that?" Sarah Jean screamed. "I kept the secret for fifteen years! I was going to take it to my grave!"

"Because your secret is still safe," Greenaway said. "Byron Sheffield has no idea that he has anything to do with this case. Frank and Gayle Sheffield didn't want him to know either, and we figured out a way to do that. Byron was in the car and didn't hear any of our conversation. We left, got a toothbrush exactly like the one Byron was using. The Sheffields waited until he was asleep and called us back. They were waiting on their doorstep and we swapped toothbrushes. And if Byron wants to know why two people in a black Chevy Suburban with US Government plates were talking to his parents, we made up a cover story about how one of their investment firms is under investigation."

Sarah Jean's face went slack as the information started to sink in.

"So it's done!" Morgan said. "That toothbrush is on its way to the lab. The only way you're getting executed is if Byron Sheffield's DNA doesn't match yours as your biological child. And we all know that's not gonna happen. So the sooner you get over it," he gave a nod of acknowledgement to the Corrections Officer, "the sooner they can take you off suicide watch and you can start thinking about what to do with the rest of you life."

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**As this is my first _Criminal Minds_ fanfic, I'd really appreciate feedback, both positive and negative, on how I'm doing so far, particularly with the characters as written. Thanks.**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The woman who came to the door of the run-down, graffiti-marred house might have been a different person from the one who had done so 48 hours earlier. She no longer reeked of gin, her graying blond hair was neatly brushed, and she wore what were undoubtedly the best dress and shoes in her austere if not impoverished wardrobe. Her eyes suggested a daze but not intoxication, and actually showed a warmth toward her visitors in sharp contrast to the "Who the hell are you?" of their initial encounter. "Thank you so much for coming, Agent Greenaway, Agent Morgan," Deborah Mason smiled at them.

"Glad to do it," Elle smiled back. "We can't leave for our office in Quantico until tomorrow at the earliest anyway. We want to make sure our paperwork is solid before we leave, since we're building a case for clearing Sarah Jean of all charges."

"Oh! If I'm keeping you from helping to set my daughter free-"

"Oh, no!" Morgan laughed. "The big wait is going to be the lab results on the DNA sample. A couple of weeks at least. And we're already here, although we should waste no time in taking you to see your daughter, if you're ready."

Mrs. Mason waited until they were on the road with Morgan at the wheel of the Suburban before she spoke again. "I have to confess, I was pretty drunk last night, and I guess I fainted when the news broke. I woke up on the living room floor after sunrise and thought that it had been a dream. But the TV was still on and the news has been nothing but Sarah Jean's Stay of Execution and that Riley may be alive! Please tell me this isn't all a dream!"

"Oh, it's real," Morgan chuckled, "but we can understand perfectly how unreal it must all seem to you."

"And none of this would have happened if you hadn't shared Sarah Jean's letter with us," Elle smiled, looking back over her shoulder at Mrs. Mason. "You got the ball rolling that spared her life. And we had no idea it would unfold the way it did."

Mrs. Mason sniffled. "And my little Riley is alive!"

"It sure appears that way!" Morgan said. "And if he is, he's not so little anymore."

"You've seen him?" Mrs. Mason's eyes lit up.

"The two of us were the ones who went to see the couple who raised him," Morgan said. "We caught only a glimpse of him in the back of their car, but he looked like a fine, healthy young man."

Mrs. Mason dabbed her eyes. Elle waited a few seconds before speaking. "Mrs. Mason, you need to know that you're not going to get to see Riley. The reason all this happened, the reason Sarah Jean gave him away and confessed to murdering him, and literally went willingly to the electric chair, is that she wanted him to have a life free of Jacob and herself, free of the knowledge that his biological father is a serial killer. And the couple who raised him want to keep him free of that knowledge too." She quickly explained the subterfuge of the toothbrush swap and the cover story of the investment firm investigation.

"Until a few hours ago," Mrs. Mason sniffled, "I'd spent the last fifteen years believing that Riley was dead and that Sarah Jean had murdered him at that scumbag Jacob's demands. Just knowing that he's alive and she's innocent... Now she and I have the rest of our lives to worry about not seeing him."

"Mrs. Mason," Morgan added, "you also need to know that Sarah Jean is under suicide watch. She was fully intent on taking her secret to her grave and was prepared to die, and the reprieve actually traumatized her. She's furious at everyone responsible for finding Riley and getting the Stay of Execution. This morning," he fought back a laugh, "she actually smacked one of our supervisors in the face with her shoe because he was the one who sent us to Riley's adoptive parents." He saw from the corner of his eye that Elle was mirroring his glance and likewise fighting back a laugh. "She calmed down a bit after we told her about the toothbrush and the cover story, but her state of mind may still be volatile. Now, the Warden is allowing you to visit her at her cell, with additional guards present because of the suicide watch, but you need to be prepared for the possibility that she may refuse to see you or even lash out at you."

"Yes," Elle said, failing to suppress her smile and intentionally facing away from their passenger, "we heard that the shoe was the _second_ time Sarah Jean lashed out at our supervisor. When I started reading her letter to you over the phone and he started repeating it to her, she smacked him in the ear and broke his Bluetooth device."

Mrs. Mason stifled her own laugh. "It doesn't really matter how angry she is. We have the rest of our lives to straighten it out and make things right."

* * *

The mob of demonstrators outside the Penitentiary gate had slowly dispersed and gone home after the press conference at the Attorney General's Office, as word spread as to the reason for the Stay of Execution. To Morgan and Elle's relief, there were no picketers calling for Sarah Jean to burn in Hell, for her mother to see as they came through the gate. Morgan parked near the entrance to the Death House, where Warden Diehl met them and the two agents introduced him to Mrs. Mason. The four of them passed through the various security points into the cell corridor, where three female corrections officers from a new shift were now gathered in front of Cell Four. They had been briefed beforehand not to have the cell opened for the new visitor.

Mrs. Mason hung back, out of sight from the cell itself. Morgan and Elle stepped forward to see Sarah Jane. She was sitting upright on her bunk, her shoes on her feet rather than lined up as potential projectiles, and she was wearing a bandana someone had given her to cover her baldness. She had her painting of Riley as a ten year old on her lap, and the photo of him holding his cello in one hand. The two BAU agents saw the overall picture as a relatively good sign. She looked over to the door.

"Sarah Jane, we brought you a visitor," Morgan told her.

Deborah Mason stepped unsurely and nervously around the two BAU agents and the Warden, alternately casting her eyes toward the cell and downward at the floor. Sarah Jean's eyes welled up and her lips trembled as she saw her mother for the first time in years, and then she stood and rushed toward the door.

"Mom!" she cried out, thrusting both hands through the bars. Her mother clutched them as the tears streamed down both their faces.

"Step back a moment, Sarah Jean!" Warden Diehl told her, and then as she did so, he called out: "Open Four!"

And mother and daughter sobbed loudly in each other's arms.

* * *

"Our top story this evening: It's a Match!" the News Anchor announced, "The Florida Attorney General's office has confirmed that the DNA sample of a seventeen year old boy who is purported to be Riley Dawes, the son of Jacob and Sarah Jean Dawes, is indeed a match to the couple. Sarah Jean Dawes had confessed to murdering her son Riley, then two years old, in 1990 and then disposing of the body. At the time, she and her husband were attempting to evade arrest for the rapes and murders of at least fourteen teenage girls in and around Bradford and Clay Counties. Jacob Dawes was executed for the rapes and murders twelve days ago, and Sarah Jane Dawes was scheduled to die an hour later, for the aggravated murder of their son Riley, when a literal last minute Stay of Execution was issued by Governor Jeb Bush.

"In a joint press release, the Attorney General's Office and lawyers for Sarah Jean Dawes confirm that she had given her son away to be raised by a couple she knew, and that she had done so to protect him from her husband, who had demanded the child's murder. She continued to stand by her confession to protect the child from the stigma of his parents' infamy, and was prepared to die in the electric chair to preserve the secret. Profilers of the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit, interviewing the couple for the informational databse of their Violent Criminal Apprehension Program, or VICAP, uncovered evidence that Sarah Jean was innocent of most crimes and that Riley Dawes was alive.

"Since her Stay of Execution, Sarah Jean Dawes had been briefly placed under suicide watch, and then was transferred from the Death House back to the Women's section of the prison, in isolation, where she had been incarcerated since her conviction.

"The Florida Attorney General's Office has scheduled a hearing with the Superior Court recommending the reversals of Sarah Jean Dawes's conviction for the murder of Riley Dawes and vacating her death sentence, as well as her convictions for involvement in the rapes and murders of her husband's female victims. That the court will agree to the recommendations regarding aggravated murder conviction and the death sentence is almost a certainty, and if the court does not concur regarding the lesser charges, Governor Bush is also reviewing the case and is open to the possibility of issuing a pardon. Sarah Jean Dawes may be a free woman in a matter of days..."

* * *

Hotch and Section Chief Erin Strauss sat in the Deputy Director's office facing his desk. Off to one side of the desk, standing at an approximation of military parade rest, was a tall, lanky Supervisory Special Agent whom they knew only too well.

"When accolades come from the top down," the Deputy Director began, "they often come as a double-edged sword. Especially in such a dramatic and high-profile case as the Dawes case. The Governor of Florida spoke to the President, commending the BAU for its actions in finding Riley Dawes alive and in time to stop Sarah Jane Dawes's execution. The Governor specifically asked the President to put in a written commendation for Agents Morgan and Greenaway for their initiative in coming directly to the Governor's Office and getting him to issue the Stay literally in the nick of time. The President passed word of the forthcoming commendation down the Chain of Command through the US Attorney General to the Director. The Director thought there was something irregular about the story and spoke to the Governor, and now he wants to know _why_ Agents Morgan and Greenaway had to go directly to the Governor instead of through the BAU Chain of Command."

He paused and glanced to the other SSA before continuing, "This is going to be an informal investigation for now, although members of SSA Hardesty's team are on their way down to Florida to interview Warden Diehl and those staff members of his who were involved, and Ms. Dawes's attorney Mr. Shapiro, and possibly Ms. Dawes herself. Several members of the BAU are going back to Florida next week to testify at the hearing to reverse Sarah Jane Dawes's convictions, and we want this whole thing cleared up before they go."

* * *

Hotch stood at the head of his team's conference table with SSA Hardesty and another Internal Affairs agent standing beside and slightly behind him. "All right," he announced. "Everyone here knows SSA Hardesty and most of you know SSA Erskine. Everyone here has been through at least one Internal Affairs investigation before, and this one is informal for the moment. This involves the Sarah Jean Dawes case." He looked for a few seconds at Gideon who was seated closest to him, then looked down the table at the rest of the team. "I've assured SSA Hardesty that we have nothing to hide, so just answer the questions from his team truthfully. Gideon, you're first. The rest of the team, please return to your work stations and stand by until you're called."

Rather than actually returning to their desks immediately, the other team members gathered outside the now-closed door to the conference room.

"Anybody have any idea what this is about?" Reid asked.

Morgan glanced briefly at Elle and then looked at the others. "Were any of you outside the Death Chamber with Gideon and Hotch and Sarah Jean when Elle and I reached the Sheffields?" Reid, JJ and Garcia all shook their heads.

"Then you have nothing to worry about. I don't know about Gideon, but Hotch knew this was coming."

* * *

**Author's notes:**

**Much of this chapter is a shout out to 1950s and 60s Hollywood and to actress Constance Towers, who played Deb Mason. Ms. Towers is probably best known as the wife of actor John Gavin (also Ambassador to Mexico during the Reagan Administration), and made her career playing distinguished matriarchs in a number of soap operas, and making the rounds of guest-starring the crime dramas, usually as the mother of a victim or perp. She was also the female lead, playing a conniving Southern Belle, opposite John Wayne and William Holden in 1959's _The Horse Soldiers_, my all-time second-favorite Civil War movie after _Gettysburg_. It was very refreshing and impressive to see her play Mrs. Mason, a bitter, foul-mouthed, down-and-out old woman obviously drinking herself into an early grave and about to lose the only living relative she believes she has. I wrote this chapter with Mrs. Mason being much more like the characters Constance Towers usually plays, to illustrate how Sarah Jean's death impacted more people than just herself and Riley/Byron.**

**In further shouts out to the past, I realize that most _Criminal Minds_ fans and readers of this fanfic will be too young to remember, but Agent John "Chip" Hardesty was Jimmy Stewart's character, the hero of another 1959 film _The FBI Story_, and Agent Lewis Erskine was the main character, played by Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., in the 1960s series _The FBI_. Both characters were men of integrity beyond reproach, as befitting the ideal for agents of the Internal Affairs Division of the FBI.**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"How did you get the number to the Governor's private office in the first place?" SSA Hardesty asked Morgan.

"Mr. Shapiro, the appeals attorney for Daweses, texted it to both Agent Greenaway and myself while we were on the road to Keystone Heights to see the Sheffields. I later found out that he obtained our phone numbers from Technical Analyst Garcia. Mr. Sheffield explained in the text that the Governor was standing by, and that that was the number to call in case time started running out." Morgan paused and took a deep breath. "Knowing what I know now, all I can say is Thank God he did, and I'd do it all again exactly the same way."

"Relax, Derek," Hardesty smiled thinly. "You're not on the chopping block for anything. You and Elle are coming out of this smelling like roses, no matter what else happens."

"Thanks."

* * *

"You're sure SSA Hotchner told you it was the wrong boy?" SSA Erskine asked.

"Yes," Elle replied. "His exact words were, 'Let 'em go. It's not the boy.' Agent Morgan apologized to Mr. Sheffield for the intrusion and inconvenience, and we started to get back in our vehicle when Mr. Sheffield asked us if this involved the execution of Sarah Jean Dawes."

"Upon which you called SSA Hotchner back." Erskine nodded.

"Correct. Riley... uh, Byron stayed in the car while Mr. and Mrs. Sheffield talked between themselves. They begged us to stop the execution, but they also begged us not to let Byron know that he was involved in any way."

"That's when the two of you came up with the idea of swapping toothbrushes."

"The toothbrushes were Morgan's idea. I came up with the cover story about the investment firm investigation."

"On the spot?" Erskine asked.

"We had to. We had to have a plan and cover story before Byron got out of the car."

"And what happened when you called Agent Hotchner back?"

"He said that Sarah Jean had already been taken into the death chamber. When I told Morgan, that's when he called the Governor with the number Mr. Shapiro sent us."

"Agent Morgan called," Erskine said, and Elle nodded in confirmation. "Did SSA Hotchner say if _he_ was going to call the Governor?"

Elle paused before answering. "He didn't say so. No."

"Did he give any other indication that he was going to call?"

"Not that I can remember," Elle replied.

"Any sense of urgency in his manner? Did he hang up in a rush or anything like that?"

"Not that I could tell. I actually stayed on the phone with him, waiting for further instructions, until Morgan was actually talking to the Governor himself. Then I ended the call."

"And he said nothing after he told you Sarah Jean Dawes had been taken into the death chamber?"

"No, he didn't."

* * *

"So you yourself identified Byron Sheffield to actually be Riley Dawes, and found his address in Keystone Heights?" Agent Erskine asked.

"Well, yeah," Garcia replied, "but it was the end of a long team effort. SSA Gideon and Dr. Reid figured out that Sarah Jean was lying about murdering Riley. Gideon figured that she would have given him to a couple she cleaned houses for. He had me search the databases for couples who lived in Hampton, Florida who were on the waiting list for adopting children in 1990. I found that the Sheffields had been on the list but removed themselves a month after Riley Dawes was supposed to have been murdered, and then left Hampton. We found the Sheffields' new address in Keystone Heights. Then I found an online copy of a news article about Byron Sheffield winning a musical scholarship, with the same photo that Gideon found hidden in Sarah Jean's cell. Byron Sheffield holding a cello."

"So there was no doubt in anybody's mind on the team that Byron Sheffield and Riley Dawes were the same person."

"Absolutely none," Garcia replied. "Once we got Derek and Elle on the road to the Sheffields, I even took the last known photo of Riley Dawes at age two and ran it through facial aging software, and it looked just like Byron. I can go back to my desk and print both pictures out for you if you like."

"As soon as we're done in here, Ms. Garcia," Erskine said. "I'll definitely want those for the report to the Director. But before we do, I have some other questions for you. Can you confirm that you gave Agents Morgan and Greenaway's phone numbers to Samuel Shapiro?"

"Yes, sir. He asked me for them. He wanted to be sure they had the direct line to the Governor's Office since time was running so short. I wasn't sure I had the authority to give them the number myself. I figured he had the right to do so as Sarah Jean's attorney."

* * *

"_What the hell were you two thinking?_" the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation said, his voice at a volume just below a yell. From behind his desk inside his inner office, it probably wasn't audible outside the room. Hotch and Gideon hoped so anyway, but that didn't stop them from squirming in their seats. "Do either of you deny that you knew that Riley Dawes was alive and in the presence of Agents Morgan and Greenaway when you told them to leave?"

"Sir," Gideon said with a hint of indignation, "as I explained to SSA Hardesty, it was a heart-wrenching decision on my part. Sarah Jean Dawes pleaded with us to let her be executed. She didn't want her son to know who his real parents were. She didn't want him to know his father was a sexual psychopath who raped, murdered and dismembered fourteen teenage girls that we knew of, maybe up to four more that he claimed on his way to the death chamber."

"And the boy _still_ doesn't know that," the Director shook his head, "and yet members of your team are returning to Florida in a few days for a hearing to exonerate and free Sarah Jean Dawes. Alive. According to the investigation, your colleagues Agents Morgan and Greenaway figured out how to do that themselves while they were on the phone with you two."

"Sarah Jean Dawes believed it was best for her son that she be put to death. She believed she was setting him free. She was prepared to die, and said that her impending death was the consequence of decisions she had made fifteen years ago."

"That wasn't your call to make," the Director glared at him, "and it wasn't even _hers_. We're not in the Assisted Suicide business, SSA Gideon, we put away people who are! And while we may face life and death decisions every day, we sure as hell are not in the business of playing God!"

"Sir, I was trying to respect Ms. Dawes's wishes-"

"_After_ you yourself figured out that she was innocent of all the crimes for she'd been convicted!" The Director sighed. "Do I have to remind you that we're the FBI? We're part of the Department of Justice. We deal in facts, and you had the facts! Those facts clearly pointed to her innocence, and you acted to suppress those facts! The last time I looked, that was called 'Obstruction of Justice'!"

Gideon and Hotch both turned pale, but said nothing.

"Legally," the Director continued, "that charge at least would probably stick. Morally, had Agents Morgan and Greenaway _not_ taken the actions they did, you'd have committed murder, just as surely as Dr. Kevorkian."

Gideon opened his mouth, but Hotch looked at him and he remained quiet.

"SSA Hotchner," the Director turned to him, "I realize that SSA Gideon was your mentor and that you have a lot of deference toward him and his judgment. But _you_ are the BAU team chief, and you were the individual actually on the phone with Agent Greenaway while she and Morgan were at the Sheffield home. Do _you_ have anything to say?"

"No, sir. No excuses," Hotch replied, lifting his head to make eye contact and remaining his usual stoic self.

"All right," the Director nodded. "We can all thank God, and Agents Morgan and Greenaway, Technical Analyst Garcia, and Mr. Shapiro, that an innocent woman wasn't put to death. Because of that, I'm in a relatively lenient mood." He picked up two sheets of paper. "I'm giving each of you a Letter of Admonition for a lapse in judgment. I'm hoping that this will be the end of it. Right now, your team members have put the BAU in a very good light nationwide because of the drama that unfolded. The person who looks like the bad guy is Warden Diehl, but his ass is covered because he followed procedure all the way, and he's not going to open another can of worms by pointing the finger at you two. The two of you each have the right to rebut these letters, or to request a formal hearing on them..." he looked directly at Gideon who was closed mouthed but still had a look of indignation, "... but if you choose to do so, be advised that I've already drafted separate indictments on each of you for Obstuction of Justice for the Attorney General. Gentlemen, let's make this the end of it. Now!"

* * *

**Author's notes:**

**I really hated doing this to Hotch, but that's the way the original episode played out and I can see no other logical outcome with this Alternate Universe twist. For that matter, in real life, with the original ending to the episode, I could very easily see this _still_ happening to Hotch and Gideon even with Sarah Jean taking her secret to the grave if the right people (e.g. Morgan, Elle and Garcia) talked.**

**My apologies if "Letter of Admonition" is not the correct terminology for this situation. As I'm fond of saying, I'm retired as both a public school employee and an Army reserve components officer, plus I did four years of undergraduate at the state university and four years of graduate school at a state college, so I've had 68 years worth of dealing with government bureaucracy, and I'm only 55! But I've never worked for the US Department of Justice and have been unsuccessful in researching that particular detail.**

**While former Governor of Florida Jeb Bush, like most of his family, has a well-known public persona which I've tried to replicate, the same cannot be said for the Director of the FBI (who held the post in 2006 when this story takes place). Consequently, the Director in this story is a completely fictional character and remains nameless.**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Apart from Garcia again accompanying the team to Florida, the passenger manifest for the team's Gulfstream jet was highly unusual: the two supervisors were conspicuous by their absence, leaving Morgan as the senior agent, and there was the addition of another FBI employee traveling with them to also testify at the hearing.

When the slender, thirtyish woman of mixed Oriental and Caucasian ethnicity met the BAU members on the airfield, JJ smiled and extended her hand. "Hi. Doctor Manahan?" She pronounced it "MAN-uh-han".

"Yes," the woman returned the handshake. "I actually pronounce it mah-NAH-hahn. But I'll answer to anything close. Lorna Manahan."

"I'm Jennifer Jareau, Team Liaison. Call me JJ." She proceeded to introduce the rest of the team, as usual introducing Reid as Doctor Spencer Reid.

As they boarded the plane, JJ commented "I've never heard your surname pronounced that way before."

"My dad's Filipino," Dr. Manahan said, causing Garcia's ears to perk up. "It's actually a Spanish name. Apparently, my Black Irish distant relatives moved the accent sometime after they washed ashore during the sinking of the Armada. There must've been a lot of Spanish sailors named mah-NAH-hahn sailing all over the empire, considering _my_ ancestry."

Morgan and Elle took seats near the front of the cabin, while Reid, Garcia and JJ sat toward the rear, the two women gesturing for for Dr. Manahan to join them. They waited until the Gulfstream took off and was in its climb before resuming conversation.

"My stepdad, who adopted me, was Filipino too," Garcia said to the newcomer. "That's how you get someone named Garcia who is a blonde Scandinavian who doesn't speak a word of Spanish! I get a lot of telemarketers who call and start speaking to me in Spanish."

"I hear you!" Dr. Manahan laughed. "Don't get as many as most other people with Spanish surnames since most people assume I'm Irish, but whenever I get telemarketers calling and speaking Spanish, I answer them in German and really mess with their heads!"

"I'll have to try that sometime," Garcia smiled, "but I took Russian in school. I entertained thoughts of joining the CIA before the Bureau got to me first."

"Russian's even more of a mind-screw than German! If the telemarketer can tell the difference."

"Indeed," Garcia nodded. "You eat a lot of Filipino foods growing up?"

"Just when I visited my grandparents."

"Good stuff," Garcia smiled. "Most of it anyway. Some I couldn't handle. Ever eat balut? Or dinuguan?"

"Not since I was old enough to realize what I was eating!" Dr. Manahan laughed again.

"Same for me and all my stepbrothers!" Garcia nodded.

"Balut is a fertilized duck egg," Reid explained to an obviously puzzled-looking JJ.

"Hard-boiled a few weeks short of hatching," Dr. Manahan finished the description, to JJ's grimace.

"The other stuff, dinuguan, is a hog's blood pudding," Reid said.

"Kind of like German blood sausage," Dr. Manahan added, "only minus the skins and more of a pudding or stew or thick soup consistency."

"Balut got to be a running joke with one of my stepbrothers and his best friend," Garcia said. "It was his best friend's bachelor party and they went out to a regular steakhouse for dinner, and somehow my stepbrother's being half Filipino came up in conversation. And the waitress says to him, 'Do you people really eat duck embryos?' Ruined almost everybody's appetite!" She paused for everyone to laugh. "After that, whenever my stepbrother had his friend and his wife over- while my stepbrother was still living at home- his friend would joke about serving balut for dinner. Until my stepbrother called his bluff, went to an Asian food market and got an actual balut one night, when the friend and his wife were coming over!"

"Did anybody actually eat it?" Dr. Manahan asked.

"My stepdad _was_ going to eat it just to demonstrate that people really do, but when my stepbrother cracked open the top of the shell he discovered it was still raw. So he figures the only way to cook an egg that's supposed to be boiled but is cracked open is to microwave it-"

"He didn't!" Dr. Manahan half-laughed, half-groaned.

"Blew up and splattered all over the inside of that microwave!" Garcia laughed. "Little baby duck parts and all! It was months before the smell went away!"

The four in that seating group all laughed, Garcia and Dr. Manahan wrinkling their noses as well. "You have to know the smell of balut to really appreciate this," Dr. Manahan explained to Reid and JJ.

"I guess being exposed to the more exotic Filipino delicacies prepared you for some of the more disgusting specimens you get at Lab Services," Garcia laughed.

"I guess," Dr. Manahan said. "We get all kinds of body parts and tissues and digestive tract content and waste matter. But fortunately most of what we get is buccal swabs, and the occasional toothbrush like you guys sent." She paused. "I'll tell you, though. I've been with the Bureau for eight years, and this is the first time I've ever had to testify to prove that a supposed murder victim was still alive!"

"I think it's a first for all of us," JJ said, glancing over to Elle and Morgan, who nodded in concurrence from across the cabin.

"There have been a number cases of people being prosecuted for faking their own deaths for insurance fraud or to escape prosecution," Reid said, "but none that I know of have involved DNA so far."

"So where's the legendary SSA Jason Gideon?" Dr. Manahan asked. "I was under the impression he was on your team and involved in the case."

"He and our Unit Chief had to stay back in Quantico," JJ replied.

"I'll be the one testifying on the aspects of the case that the two of them were involved with," Reid added, "since I worked most closely with both of them on this case."

Across the cabin, Reid's comment prompted Elle to lean in close to Morgan and whisper, "Hey, Derek?"

"What?"

"I don't know what happened in the Director's office with Hotch and Gideon yesterday, but he obviously wasn't happy with the way they handled this one."

"So?"

"I've been asking myself this question for two weeks. What would you and I have done if the Sheffields hadn't come forward after Hotch told us to leave?"

Morgan took a deep breath. "I don't know, Elle. We didn't know anything other than what they'd told us on the phone. Hotch told you it wasn't the right kid. We couldn't have done anything but walk away as ordered."

"So Sarah Jean gets executed with Gideon and Hotch's full knowledge that Byron Sheffield was really Ryan Dawes?"

"_They_ knew. You and I didn't."

Elle looked toward their teammates across the cabin. "Those guys knew too. At least Reid and Garcia did. Garcia found the Sheffields for us."

"Yeah. They came clean to IA. Hotch and Gideon got an ass-chewing from the Director like we had a feeling they would. So what else is new, Elle?"

"I can't stop wondering if this whole thing would have been buried if Sarah Jean _had_ been executed. Would there have even been an IA investigation? Would Garcia or Reid have said anything?"

Morgan shrugged. "Why don't you ask them?"

"I plan to," Elle nodded, "but not in the presence of our visitor from Lab Services."

"It's all moot, anyway, Elle. Sarah Jean's alive, hopefully in a day or so she'll walk out of prison a free woman."

"I just wonder whether this team would let one of our own basically get away with murder, or if we'd have the integrity to speak out."

Morgan smiled at her. "Let's hope we never have to find out for real."

* * *

They landed in Jacksonville and, after picking up a vehicle from the FBI Field Office there, made their way back to Bradford County. Accommodations had been arranged at a hotel within walking distance of the County Courthouse in Starke, where the hearing would take place the next morning. After checking in, they met individually in a conference room at the courthouse with both Sam Shapiro and Assistant Attorney General Guzman, the latter representing the State of Florida at the hearing. They were uncharacteristically non-adversarial meetings, both sides having the common goal of reversing the convictions and vacating the sentences of Sarah Jean Dawes. That afternoon's meeting was to preview the upcoming testimony of the BAU members and Dr. Manahan. Particular emphasis was placed on Reid, ensuring that his testimony would not be seen as hearsay by the judge due to the absence of his superiors, even though neither attorney intended to characterize it as such.

* * *

The original judge having retired not long after the trial fifteen years earlier, the case was assigned to Judge Clifford Wolverton, a middle-aged man with gold-rimmed glasses whose graying high-and-tight crewcut reflected a military background. The hearing was closed, the witnesses kept in a separate waiting area, and the only persons initially in the courtroom being the judge, a bailiff, clerk and court reporter, Humberto Guzman, Sam Shapiro, and Sarah Jane Dawes, who was still in orange and blue prison garb, her hair grown out about an inch but still mostly covered by a scarf.

"Gentlemen, Ms. Dawes," Judge Wolverton began, "I've become intimately familiar with the case and the trial transcripts since I drew this case following the Stay of Execution. I'm in receipt of the petition to vacate all convictions and sentencing of Ms. Dawes, as well as the contingency addendum filed by the Defense, and the sworn depositions of Mr. and Mrs. Franklin Sheffield regarding the minor child Byron Sheffield. All publicly released transcripts and public references to the Sheffields within our proceedings shall henceforth be redacted as to names and address, with Franklin Sheffield referred to as John Doe, Gayle Sheffield as Jane Doe, and Byron Sheffield as Robert Doe. Let's get down to business. Mr. Guzman, call your first witness."

"I call FBI Supervisory Special Agent Elle Greenaway."

The Bailiff stepped out the door to the witness area and returned a few seconds later, ushering in Elle. After she was sworn in, Guzman established her credentials and asked her to explain the mission of the BAU the two days prior to the scheduled execution of Jacob and Sarah Jean Dawes, that of profiling the convicted couple for the VICAP database.

"And what was your particular task on this mission?" Guzman asked.

"SSA Derek Morgan and I were teamed up to do the legwork while the remainder of the team interviewed the Daweses. We initially analyzed the primary crime scene, their home at the time of their arrest and where the bodies of the first twelve victims were buried. Then, in order to get more background on Sarah Jean," Elle paused and nodded toward Sarah Jean, who was remarkably composed, "we decided to visit her mother, Mrs. Deborah Mason, and see if she was willing to be interviewed. Mrs. mason was initially hesitant but cooperated. Over the course of the interview, we asked her if she had made the anonymous call tipping off the police to the murders. She told us she didn't but knew who did, and then showed us a letter she had just received that morning from Sarah Jean."

Guzman picked up a sheet of paper from his table and handed it to her. "Is this a copy of that letter?"

Elle glanced at it. "Yes, sir."

"Your Honor," Guzman turned to Wolverton, "let the record show that the witness identified a photocopy of State's Exhibit A, previously submitted with the petition."

"So noted," the judge replied.

"And upon reading this letter, what did you do?" Guzman returned to Elle.

"I called our team's technical analyst, Penelope Garcia, who was back at the penitentiary, and had her set me up on a conference call with SSAs Jason Gideon and Spencer Reid who were in the process of interviewing Sarah Jean. I read the letter to them. The two of them, Agent Morgan and I each independently came to the conclusion that the letter did indicate that Sarah Jean called in the anonymous tip on her husband, and was not consistent with the profile of a woman who would then murder her own child."

"And what did you do with that information?"

"The rest of the team went about finding exculpatory evidence for Sarah Jean," Elle said, then went on to describe how focus shifted to attempting to prove that Jacob had murdered Riley without Sarah Jean's involvement. She described how the other team members had tricked Jacob into revealing what he claimed was Jacob's burial site, which sent herself and Morgan with a crew to search with ground penetrating radar under the foundation of a gazebo Jacob had built on one of his contracting jobs. A skeleton was found, not of Riley but of Ashley Varley, the 14 year old daughter of a couple for whom Sarah Jean had done housekeeping, and Jacob's 14th known victim. Elle went on to how, the next day, the rest of the team then concluded that Riley was alive and that Sarah Jean had confessed to the killing to protect him from Jacob. Elle described how, after Garcia had found evidence that the Sheffields of Keystone Heights were the parents who had raised Riley, she and Morgan were again sent on the road racing against time to Keystone Heights, then gave her version of the events culminating with the toothbrush swap.

"Mr. Shapiro," Judge Wolverton said, "your witness."

"No questions, Your Honor."

"The witness is excused. Call your next witness, Mr. Guzman."

"The State calls FBI Supervisory Special Agent Spencer Reid."

After establishing Reid's identity and credentials, Guzman started with his and Gideon's questioning of Sarah Jean, and the conference call with Elle.

"We all independently came to the same conclusion that the letter was inconsistent with the profile of a woman who would murder her own son," Reid said. "I then went on to assist SSA Hotchner with his interview of Jacob Dawes. It was becoming clearer with that interview that the fantasy upon which Jacob Dawes built his murders involved being alone with the victim, that Sarah Jean's participation would have been totally inconsistent with that fantasy."

Guzman's next questions asked Reid to elaborate on that, particularly with regard to Jacob's history of having been abused by his mother. Then he had Reid give his account of the subterfuge trying to get Jacob to reveal Riley's burial site.

"And what happened after the remains were identified to be those of Ashley Varley and not Riley Dawes?" Guzman asked.

"The team then theorized that Sarah Jean may have possession of some clue as to the location of Riley's burial site. Earlier we had noticed that one of her paintings showed a boy resembling Riley running through a field, but appearing to be a much older child than the age at which he'd disappeared. We all theorized that it was an expression of 'what might have been'. Then after reexamining her paintings, SSA Gideon noticed a theme in another painting, of reeds along a riverbank with a basket among them, the theme of Moses' mother in Exodus sending him down the Nile in a basket to be spared from the slaughter by Pharaoh's decree."

"And that led your team to conclude what?"

Reid glanced over to Sarah Jean and saw her weeping silently, with what appeared to be happy tears. "That after Jacob had told her to kill Riley, Sarah Jean Dawes gave him away to a couple to raise him. Almost certainly one of the couples in Hampton for whom she'd worked as a housekeeper. SSA Gideon persuaded Warden Diehl to get her out of her cell and then searched for clues there. He found a magazine clipping of a teenage boy holding a cello."

Guzman picked up a computer printout of the photo and handed it to Reid. "Is this a copy of that photo?"

"Yes," Reid nodded. "It's been cropped, so that there are no captions or other information in the frame, so it's a copy of what SSA Gideon actually found as opposed to what Technical Analyst Garcia found online later."

"We'll get to that," Guzman smiled. "Your Honor, let the record indicate that the witness identified State's Exhibit B, previously submitted."

"So noted," Wolverton nodded.

"So what did your team do next?" Guzman returned to Reid.

"We used the parameters that we'd established to have Technical Analyst Garcia do a search online for the couple whom we presumed to have raised Riley Dawes."

"And was Technical Analyst Garcia successful?"

"Yes, she was."

"Thank you, Dr. Reid," Guzman said.

"Your witness, Mr. Shapiro," the judge informed him.

"No questions for this witness." Shapiro's role at this point was to ensure that the State was acting in Sarah Jean's best interest or to intervene if otherwise. With both sides working toward the same goal, he had little conflict or reason to cross examine.

"The witness is excused," the judge said. "Next witness, Mr. Guzman."

"The State calls FBI Technical Analyst Penelope Garcia."

Garcia's testimony was very similar to that which she'd given at the Internal Affairs investigation, relating how the profilers had given her the parameters to search the databases for couples who lived in Hampton who were on the waiting list for adopting children in 1990. "I found that Frank and Gayle Sheffield had been on the list but had removed themselves in October, a month after Riley Dawes was supposed to have been murdered. They then left Hampton. We found the Sheffields' new address in Keystone Heights. Information indicated that the Sheffields had a seventeen year old son named Byron. Then I found an online news article about Byron Sheffield winning a musical scholarship. It had the same photo that SSA Gideon found in Sarah Jean's cell. Byron Sheffield holding a cello."

Guzman handed her a printout. "Is this the article, with that photo?"

"Yes, sir, it is," Garcia nodded.

"And is this a copy of the photo that Agent Gideon had found in Sarah Jean Dawes's cell?" Guzman showed her State's Exhibit B.

"It is."

"Your Honor, let the record show that the witness has identified copies of State's Exhibits B and C, previously submitted with the petition."

"So noted."

"And apart from matching the photos in Exhibits B and C," Guzman returned to Garcia, "did you find any further evidence that Riley Dawes and Byron Sheffield were the same person?"

"Yes, sir. We had a copy of the last known photo of Riley Dawes at age two. I ran it through facial age progression software, and it looked just like Byron."

Guzman held up two more photo printouts. "Are these the known photo of Riley Dawes, and the age progression of that photo?"

"Yes, they are, sir."

"Ms. Garcia, is there any possibility that the end result may have been influenced by your having seen the photo of Byron Sheffield?"

"Absolutely not, sir. The photo age progression software has only two parameters for input: the age of the child at the time the original photo was taken, and the target age for the end product."

"Your Honor, let the record show that the witness has identified copies of State's Exhibits D and E, previously submitted with the petition."

Guzman next called Morgan to the stand. He had Morgan run through his version of events, which paralleled that of Elle. There was no mention of the detail of the last-minute intervention with the Governor. Morgan recounted the initial contact with the Sheffields and emphasized that they were the first to bring up the name of Sarah Jean Dawes. He mentioned their wanting to avoid their son's learning about his true past, and the plan for himself and Elle to return later and swap toothbrushes.

"And after you obtained the toothbrush and sealed it in the evidence bag, what did you do?" Guzman asked.

"We went straight to the FBI Field Office in Jacksonville and submitted it for expedited delivery to FBI Laboratory Services in Quantico," Morgan replied.

"And you received an evidence receipt with a file number assigned?"

"Yes, sir. File number FLJ-2006-1766."

"Your Honor, let it be noted that SSA Morgan's receipt was submitted with the petition as State's Exhibit F."

"So noted," Judge Wolverton nodded.

"And the request submitted to Laboratory Services with the toothbrush?" Guzman returned to Morgan.

"DNA extraction and analysis through CODIS."

"Thank you, SSA Morgan."

After the formality of offering Shapiro cross-examination and being declined, Guzman announced, "The State calls Dr. Lorna Manahan."

Dr. Manahan entered, holding an FBI folder. After she was sworn in, Guzman asked her to state her name and occupation.

"I'm Dr. Lorna Manahan, and I'm a biologist with the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Laboratory Services."

"Please state your educational background and your experiences."

"I have a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Yale University and a PhD in Genetics from the University of Pennsylvania. I've been with FBI Laboratory Services for eight and a half years, since receiving my PhD."

"And your routine duties include receiving biological specimens and analyzing them for DNA?"

"Yes, sir."

"Did you receive and process File Number FLJ-2006-1766?"

"Yes, sir."

"Could you please share your findings with the court?"

"The specimen was a soft-bristle Reach toothbrush. The head of the toothbrush had an abundance of epithelial cells from the mouth of one person, as might be expected of a used toothbrush. The person was male. The handle had trace amounts of DNA from the same male, and lesser trace amounts from a female human not biologically related to the male."

"And your findings after developing the DNA profile?"

"We ran the profile of the male DNA through CODIS as that was what the request focused on. There was no direct match to any other DNA profile included in any CODIS-accessed database. Upon proceeding to the next stage in the protocol, searching for close relatives, we found conclusive parent-child matches to the profiles in the Convicted Felon database of one Sarah Jean Mason Dawes and one Jacob Dawes."

"Could you explain that further?" Guzman asked.

"Mitrochondrial DNA from the specimen was a match to Sarah Jean Mason Dawes. The X chromosome was a match to Sarah Jean Mason Dawes, the Y chromosome was a match to Jacob Dawes. The remaining twenty-two pairs of chromosomes each consisted of one that matched Sarah Jean Mason Dawes and one that matched Jacob Dawes. The only plausible explanation for anyone not the child of those two individuals to have that DNA profile would be if an identical twin or other monozygotic multiple birth sister of Sarah Jean mated with an identical twin or other monozygotic multiple birth brother of Jacob. And we did confirm through birth certificates that Sarah Jean Mason and Jacob Dawes were both single births. Even if a matrilineal female relative of Sarah Jean Mason were to bear the son of a male relative of Jacob Dawes, the probability of that person having that particular DNA profile would be less than one in thirty-five billion, or five times the current population of the Earth."

"Thank you, Dr. Manahan. Your Honor, let the record reflect that Dr. Manahan's full report from which she extracted her testimony was previously entered with the petition as State's Exhibit G."

"So noted," the judge replied. "Your witness, Mr. Shapiro."

"No further questions," Shapiro nodded.

"The witness is excused," Judge Wolverton said. "Call your next witness, Mr. Guzman."

"The State has no further witnesses, Your Honor."

"Call your first witness, Mr. Shapiro."

"Your Honor, the Defense has no witnesses and is in full concurrence with the petition and evidence submitted by the State."

Judge Wolverton waited until Dr. Manahan was out of the room. "All right, gentlemen. It's clear from the evidence presented that Sarah Jean Dawes did _not_ murder her son Riley, and that he is alive and well and has been living as Byron Sheffield for the last fifteen years. However," he paused, "do either of you gentlemen have _any_ other evidence to support vacating the remaining convictions and sentences against her? Mr. Guzman?"

"No, Your Honor."

"Mr. Shapiro?"

"No, Your Honor. However, as per the Defense's contingent addendum to the petition, if the Court rules against vacating the remaining charges, we motion that the evidence presented be considered as mitigating circumstances with regard to sentencing."

"Well, gentlemen, you have no business practicing law if you didn't know, coming into this case, that the odds were slim that proof that Riley Dawes was alive would be exculpatory enough regarding the remaining convictions. Your contingent addendum to the petition will be considered, Mr. Shapiro. Court is in recess until Nine O'Clock tomorrow morning, upon which time I will open the courtroom to the public and announce my decision."

* * *

**Author's Notes**

**This was a much longer chapter than any of the previous ones, but I hope you don't mind. I couldn't find a good place to break it up.**

**If any of you read my _Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Kolchak: The Night Stalker_ crossover fanfiction, or my old proposed reunion scripts for _The Wonder Years_ (not available on Fanfic dot net, but you can go to my Author's Profile and then follow the link to my home page to find it), you'll recognize Dr. Lorna Manahan as my signature (but NOT Mary Sue) OC. I had to throw in some comic relief into this _sturm und drang_, and the exchange between Lorna Manahan and Garcia was the best way to do it.**

**We know from series canon that Garcia is NOT Latina, speaks no Spanish, and that her surname comes from her stepfather. As far as I know, there is no mention of her stepfather's actual ethnicity. Being Filipino doesn't conflict with that, and in fact helps explain her being non-Spanish-speaking. (As I like to say, my people got rid of the Spaniards with the help of the US Government and started learning English in 1898. And yes, I do answer Spanish-speaking telemarketers/soliciters in German!)**

**We also have conflicting canon as to whether she is an only child or has four brothers. On the IMDb _Criminal Minds_ forum, stepbrothers seems to be the simplest resolution to this conflict.**

**Sorry if the testimony of the BAU members was repetitive/redundant to other chapters, especially the previous one. I tried to condense it as best as possible.**

**I don't know exactly how technically accurate my probabilities were in Dr. Manahan's quote, but I've extrapolated them as a ballpark figure from what I remember from actual court cases I've heard about.**

* * *

**ADDENDUM Saturday, 6/23/12 23:30 Eastern Time**

**In rebuttal to the review of chapter 5 by Ganduean-Vampiress:**

**"i just re-watched this episode and no where in there is there any mention that** **Hotch said they had the wrong boy. in fact they were forced to leave because** **she had been executed and it was too late to do anything."**

**Sorry, but I have to strongly disagree on that point. As I said in my Author's Notes on Chapter 5, I really hated having Hotch get a Letter of Admonition from the Director. Do you have the episode on disc or tape? If not, go to YouTube and search for "criminal minds riding the lightning full episode". Go to 40:58 in the episode. You may have to turn your volume up full, but you hear Hotch saying into his wrist microphone to Elle, "Let him go. It's not the boy." (Just as I have Elle quoting him to the IA agent.) This was BEFORE Sarah Jane asks for Gideon's to be the last face she sees and steps into the death chamber.**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Morgan and Elle awoke and had breakfast before the others, and then took the SUV on the short drive to Deborah Mason's house. When Mrs. Mason came to the door, she was wearing a new dress and shoes- quite probably from Wal-Mart or Kmart, they surmised, but new nevertheless- and she had applied just enough makeup to enhance the fact that she looked ten years younger than she had the last time they'd seen her. She threw open the door and gave the two agents each a tight hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Wow, Mrs. Mason!" Elle laughed. "I can't get over it! You're like a new woman!"

"I _am_ a new woman! Clean and sober since the Stay! Nineteen days and counting, and I haven't even felt a need to join AA or something like it."

"Well, good for you!" Morgan grinned.

They got into the SUV with Morgan at the wheel. "I know you two and a lot of other people have told me not to get my hopes up," Mrs. Mason said, "but I've prepared Sarah Jean's old room at my house in case she's released today. I've got a good feeling." She paused, then added, "I'm not going to fall off the wagon if her remaining convictions stand. I'll be happy to keep visiting her in prison rather than some potter's field. But I have a feeling."

"As long as you're prepared for that possibility," Morgan nodded. "But it's good that you have a place ready for her." As he said that, he suddenly remembered that her kitchen had for fifteen years been the burial site for one of Jacob's victims, and that the last time he and Elle were in the home, there was still a gaping hole in the kitchen floor encircled with crime scene tape.

"Well, Sarah Jean has nowhere else to go," Mrs. Mason said softly, in contrast with her bitterness in a similar statement in response to their query about her abusive late husband.

* * *

They arrived in the courtroom to find that JJ, Garcia, Reid and Dr. Manahan had appropriated the front spectator bench behind the defendant's table, with plenty of room for the three new arrivals. The room wasn't packed, but there were a number of other spectators, many but not all of them appearing to be journalists. Humberto Guzman sat with another member of the Attorney General's staff at the prosecution table.

Presently, Sarah Jean, escorted by Sam Shapiro and a Sheriff's Deputy, entered from the side doorway that led to the lockup area in the building; she smiled at her mother, who leaned over the railing at the front of the gallery and exchanged a quick embrace with her.

Shortly after that, the Bailiff entered and called for all to rise for Judge Wolverton.

"The new evidence in this case," Wolverton began once the formalities were out of the way, "as presented by the FBI, as well as the sworn depositions from the couple we shall refer to as Mr. John Doe and Mrs. Jane Doe, is conclusive. It's clear that Riley Dawes is alive and has spent the last fifteen years living as the minor referred to as Robert Doe, having been raised by the couple referred to as John Doe and Jane Doe. The aggravated murder for which Sarah Jane Dawes was convicted having been conclusively proven not to have taken place, that conviction and her death sentence are hereby reversed."

There was a murmur throughout the gallery, although relatively soft as that portion of the decision was not unexpected. Both Sarah Jean and her mother hunched over and placed their faces in their hands.

"With regard to Sarah Jean Dawes's remaining convictions, twelve counts of accessory to murder, twelve counts of accessory to rape, twelve counts of accessory to kidnapping, and obstruction of justice, the information provided by the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, particularly regarding the profiles of both Jacob Dawes and Sarah Jean Dawes, is not evidentiary in nature. While that information _is_ persuasive to this court that Sarah Jean Dawes may not have had prior knowledge that her husband was actually committing those crimes for which he was eventually executed, as the attorneys for both the State and for Ms. Dawes are well aware and most profilers themselves are quick to admit, criminal profiles are _not_ legal evidence toward an individual's guilt or innocence.

"While the evidence from the FBI and from John and Jane Doe clears Ms. Dawes of the aggravated murder charge, it has no exculpatory value against the evidence presented against her in the original trial for the remaining convictions. While the court understands the motivation that Ms. Dawes had for her false confession to the murder of her son and for exercising her Fifth Amendment rights to remain silent during the trial, there were no facts presented during the current petition that she was not already aware of during the trial. There's plenty of legal precedent that denies a defendant a retrial just because he or she withheld evidence as part of his or her Fifth Amendment rights in the original trial." He cracked a thin smile. "In laymen's terms, there are no do-overs in a criminal trial just because the defendant's choice to invoke the Fifth Amendment didn't work for him or her. The remaining convictions for Ms. Dawes stand."

He paused for the sighs and murmurs among the gallery. He saw Sarah Jean turn pale and slump over. Sitting on the same gallery bench with her, the BAU members noticed her mother do the same. "With regard to the contingent addendum to the petition, however," Judge Wolverton continued, "the entire case is extraordinary. Based on the extraordinary things Ms. Dawes did to protect the life of her son, I personally believe that she had little to no involvement with her husband's crimes. I don't have the legal basis to reverse the remaining convictions, but I am willing to grant the contingent petition as requested by the Defendant, with the concurrence of the State, that the sentences be reduced to time already served." He paused, took a deep breath and smiled. "You're a free woman, Ms. Dawes. And you're also an extraordinary woman. Good luck with the rest of your life." He pounded his gavel once. "Court is adjourned."

As the gallery's murmur rose, Deborah Mason pushed through the gate in the railing and again embraced her daughter, the two of them sobbing loudly.

Guzman nodded to Shapiro and then to JJ. "Will you be ready in a half hour?" Both nodded.

"Ladies and Gentlemen!" Guzman called out to the gallery, "At Ten O'Clock, Defense Attorney Samuel Shapiro, FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit Liaison Agent Jennifer Jareau and myself will hold a press conference in the front foyer of the courthouse."

The courtroom started to empty more rapidly after that. The FBI members, Bailiff and Sheriff's Deputy eyed the crowd for people- Jacob's groupies or relatives of his victims- who might loiter behind with dissatisfaction at Sarah Jean's freedom to pose a threat. There didn't appear to be any. Sarah Jean, weeping, stepped behind the railing, her mother close behind, and began hugging the attorneys and the FBI members, planting kisses on the cheeks of Reid, Elle and Morgan.

"Thank you all for saving my life!" she sniffled. "Especially in spite of what I'd wanted at the time. I'm sorry for all the nasty and hateful things I said and did at the time. I was wrong, and I'm happy to be alive and even happier to be free! And I'll be eternally grateful to all of you!"

"You're welcome!" the others all replied in a murmur.

Morgan placed one hand on Sarah Jean's shoulder and then placed his other hand on her mother's, and led them off toward a corner of the gallery. "Now," he began softly, "this may require a bit of thought, so you don't have to give an answer right away. I realize that this may actually cause you more pain than happiness, but I wanted you to know about..."

The others watched as Morgan continued his conversation in a whisper and the two women gasped audibly and put their hands to their mouths. Both women began weeping again but with smiles on their faces, had a lengthy whispered exchange, and then turned back to Morgan and nodded excitedly. Morgan rejoined the other FBI members with a broad grin. He glanced around to make sure the last of the spectators and reporters had left the room.

"Folks!" he announced, "there's a reason why I didn't have the jet scheduled to bring us home until Sunday, besides the fact that we weren't sure how long it would take for the judge to render his decision." He reached into an inside jacket pocket and pulled out a business envelope. "I hold in my hand a block of tickets to Tarkington University's Annual Scholarship Showcase Concert for the Northern Florida region, presenting performances by the winners of their musical scholarships for this year's graduating high school seniors. Saturday evening at Eight PM at the Breckinridge Music Center in Jacksonville. The tickets were mailed to me at Quantico earlier this week..." He paused, then added with a tongue-in-cheek smile, "compliments of John and Jane Doe!"

* * *

The reporters who had made up the majority of the gallery spectators, plus several of their TV camera and audio crews, gathered in front of JJ and the two attorneys.

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen," Sam Shapiro spoke into the battery of stand-mounted, boom and handheld microphones arrayed before the trio. "This gentleman is, as most of you already know, Mr. Humberto Guzman, Florida Assistant Attorney General, and this lady is Special Agent Jennifer Jareau, Liaison for the FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit. I'm Sam Shapiro, attorney representing Sarah Jean Dawes. I'll be making an opening statement, and then we'll open it up to questions.

"While I've advised Ms. Dawes not to rule out her option of appealing to the Florida Supreme Court with regard to the decision to let her remaining convictions stand, she is very pleased with the overall ruling clearing her of the murder of her son Riley, vacating her death sentence, and the reduction of her remaining sentences to time served. She is happy to be alive and now free. She is hopeful that the public is understanding of her reasons for having falsely confessed to murdering her son, and the fact that she was prepared and willing to go to the electric chair to protect him. She hopes that you, the public, respect the needs for privacy for her son. For that reason, all documents pertaining to the identities of the minor child born as Riley Dawes and the family who raised him are sealed. This concludes our statement and we are open for questions."

"Mr. Shapiro!" a reporter called out after raising her hand and being acknowledged. "Without revealing details about 'Mr. and Mrs. John Doe', can you reveal to us how you established contact with them?"

"As I said in another press conference the morning after Ms. Dawes's initial Stay of Execution, we have the FBI to thank for that," Shapiro replied, then nodded over to JJ, "and I believe I'll have to deflect that question to Agent Jareau."

JJ nodded back in acknowledgement, then turned to face the microphones. "The FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit, or BAU, was brought to the Penitentiary as a relatively routine matter of interviewing both Jacob and Sarah Jean Dawes just before their scheduled executions, to add information to our Violent Criminal Apprehension Program database. As the BAU interviewed the two of them as well as Sarah Jean's mother, it became increasingly evident that, while Sarah Jean had confessed to the murder of Riley, she did not fit the profile of a woman who would help her husband kidnap, rape, murder and mutilate over a dozen teenage girls, let alone murder her own son.

"Over the course of these interviews, we saw several paintings she had made over the years of her incarceration which were consistent with her not fitting the profile. One of the most telling of these paintings had a Biblical motif, reflecting Moses' mother sending him down the Nile river in a basket to save him from the killings of the firstborn Hebrews ordered by Pharaoh. The BAU deduced that when Jacob Dawes ordered Sarah Jean to kill their son, she gave her son Riley away and made a false confession to protect him.

"In a very intensive team effort, we then used our profiling methods to determine the most likely persons to whom Sarah Jean gave the child, and then were able to locate them. Mr. John Doe and Mrs. Jane Doe were immediately cooperative, corroborating the BAU's theory and providing a sample of their son's DNA."

"Does that mean that Riley Dawes is aware of his own identity, having given a DNA sample?" the same reporter called out in follow-up.

JJ paused before responding, "Those details are among those that remain sealed."

"Next question!" Guzman announced over the chorus of shouts from the reporters, pointing to a male reporter who had shouted his name.

"Question for you, Mr. Guzman!" the reporter called out. "Are 'Mr. and Mrs. John Doe' in any legal trouble for having raised Riley Dawes as their child without legal adoption papers?"

"No," Guzman replied. "After Attorney General Crist reviewed the case and considered the circumstances and the reasons that Sarah Jean gave away her son, he decided that it would be best for everyone involved to retroactively treat the situation as something akin to the Federal Witness Protection Program, with the state supporting the change in the young man's identity as necessary. Even though the child is no longer in danger of physical harm from his biological father Jacob Dawes, there is his emotional well-being to be factored in. This was decided even before Mr. John Doe and Mrs. Jane Doe gave their sworn testimony in this case."

"Did Mr. and Mrs. Doe appear in person before the court," the reporter followed up, "or was that in a deposition outside the courtroom?"

"That information remains sealed," Guzman said. "Next question."

"Agent Jareau! Is there any truth to reports circulating that members of your FBI unit received disciplinary action for nearly allowing Sarah Jean's execution to take place even after it was determined that Riley Dawes was alive, because that was Sarah Jean's own wish?"

"_If_ that were the case, it would be an entirely internal FBI personnel matter," JJ answered, then broke into a disarming smile and placed her hand over her heart. "I can tell you that _I_ haven't been subjected to any disciplinary action, and I haven't been told of anyone else in the BAU who has! Next question."

* * *

_"From 'The Ice Queen' to 'Jochabed'!" the plump blonde fortysomething lawyer-turned-cable network legal news anchor said in her signature nasal Georgia drawl. "What an incredible transformation it has been over the last three weeks for Sarah Jean Dawes! After fifteen years on Florida's Death Row for the murder of her two year old son Riley, Sarah Jean is now a free woman after Judge Clifford Wolverton ruled this morning it had been proven proven in court that Riley Dawes is alive and well! The then-young mom had given him away to another couple after police were tipped off that her husband Jacob Dawes was a serial rapist and killer of a dozen teenage girls in northern Florida, and Jacob demanded that Sarah Jean kill their son and dispose of the body. _

_"Dubbed 'The Ice Queen' after she confessed to murdering her son and then showed no emotion and remained silent during the couple's trial, Sarah Jean now has a new nickname: Jochabed, after Moses's mother, who sent him down the Nile river in a basket to spare him from the slaughter of the Hebrew firstborns..."_

Byron Sheffield returned home from his concert rehearsal to hear the news broadcast coming from the TV in the family room. He stood back from the door so his parents wouldn't see him there. He could see the screen in a far corner at an angle as the anchorwoman announced the replay of that morning's news conference.

_"In a very intensive team effort, we then used our profiling methods to determine the most likely persons to whom Sarah Jean gave the child, and then were able to locate them. Mr. John Doe and Mrs. Jane Doe were immediately cooperative, corroborating the BAU's theory and providing a sample of their son's DNA."_

_"Does that mean that Riley Dawes is aware of his own identity, having given a DNA sample?"_

_"Those details are among those that remain sealed..."_

_"Are 'Mr. and Mrs. John Doe' in any legal trouble for having raised Riley Dawes as their child without legal adoption papers?"_

_"No. After Attorney General Crist reviewed the case and considered the circumstances and the reasons that Sarah Jean gave away her son, he decided that it would be best for everyone involved to retroactively treat the situation as something akin to the Federal Witness Protection Program..."_

_"Did Mr. and Mrs. Doe appear in person before the court, or was that in a deposition outside the courtroom?"_

_"That information remains sealed. Next question..."_

Byron steeled himself. There was no more putting it off. He took a deep breath and stepped into the family room to find his parents- at least the people he'd always known as his parents- nervously gripping each other's hands as they watched the news conference. They both jerked as they turned toward him.

"Byron!" Gayle Sheffield gasped. "You surprised us! You're home early!"

"Mr. Hobbs decided to cut the rehearsal short. He says I'm ready and that like in athletics, there's such a thing as overtraining." Byron took another deep breath and then said, "Mom, Dad, are you 'Mr. and Mrs. John Doe?' Am I Riley Dawes?"

Frank Sheffield laughed, but couldn't hide the nervousness in it. "Now, where'd you get an idea like that?"

"Don't treat me like an idiot, Dad! Two people in a black SUV with US Government plates show up in our driveway and flash their FBI badges-"

"I told you, Byron!" Frank cut him off. "They're investigating Flynn and Hill Financials..."

"They show up and talk to you, and Mom starts crying!"

"I just got nervous having the FBI show up out of nowhere at nine in the evening," Gayle smiled. "You've got a good imagination, Honey, but sometimes you let it run too wild!"

"Don't treat me like an idiot!" Byron repeated, this time through clenched teeth. "Two FBI agents show up, you start crying, and then the very next morning it's all over the news that this woman Sarah Jean Dawes received a Stay of Execution because evidence turned up that her son Riley- who just happens to be my exact age- was never murdered and was given away to another couple to raise him!"

"That's just a coincidence!" Frank laughed. "How many active cases do you think the FBI has in this region at any given moment? And believe me, there are a lot more white collar crimes going on than there are supposedly murdered people who turn up alive."

"How stupid do you think I am, Dad?" Byron said at almost a shout. "I've known since Tenth Grade Biology class that you're not my biological father!"

Both parents turned white and looked at him in shock.

"We typed our own blood in Biology lab," Byron explained. "Mine is O Positive. I remember you showing me your old Air Force dogtags that said you're AB Positive. A person with Type AB can't have a child with Type O regardless of the other parent's blood type. That's what they taught us." He turned to Gayle. "Mom, I've spent the last two years assuming you cheated on Dad eighteen years ago. So it's either that or I'm not the biological child of either of you! And with the story with this Sarah Jean Dawes and her son Riley, and the FBI showing up in our driveway the night that proof turns up that he's alive, it all fits. So which is it, Mom? What do _you_ want me to believe about you?"

* * *

**Author's notes:**

**Sorry it took so long to write this chapter. Again, I had to be careful not to be too repetitive, and apologize if I am. And since JJ was pretty much in the background for most of this story, this chapter was her turn in the spotlight.**

**The next chapter should be the last. No promises as to when it'll be ready.**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

For the type of concert it was hosting that evening, showcasing the talents of the local region's recipients of music scholarships to a prestigious performing arts university, the Breckinridge Music Center was a large venue. In keeping with the old "glass half full" metaphor, the fact that only one-third of the seats were empty was not an indication of poor turnout. The audience, mostly filling the front of the center section, was large enough that Elle and Morgan had little worry that Byron Sheffield would, while on stage, happen to spot their faces out of the crowd, recognize them as the same FBI agents who had spoken to his parents, and then recognize that one of the people sitting in the same row was Sarah Jean Dawes. Particularly since Sarah Jean was wearing an extra large bandana not just to cover her short haircut but to obscure much of her face; she had also managed to avoid reporters and photographers after her release from incarceration, so that the public had no image of her more recent than fifteen years ago. Frank and Gayle Sheffield were given VIP seating near the front, while the block of tickets they'd mailed to Morgan were almost squarely in the middle of the center section.

Morgan and Elle seated themselves next to Sarah Jean and Mrs. Mason, with JJ on Elle's other side, Reid between JJ and Garcia, and Dr. Manahan on Garcia's other side.

The program indicated a dozen instumentalists and seven vocalists, opening as an ensemble with playing and singing the National Anthem. Then individually and in seemingly random order, each artist playing or singing one or two classical solos, and the concert ending with the entire ensemble doing the _Ode to Joy_ finale from Beethoven's Ninth. The Master of Ceremonies and ensemble conductor was the Dean of Musical Instruction at Tarkington University. Byron Sheffield was scheduled to go just before the intermission, playing Bach's Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major.

Once the curtain rose, the music exceeded the audience's already high expectations from such a select grouping. As much as they were absorbed in the music along with the rest of the audience, it wasn't long before the BAU members yielded to their ever vigilant and observant natures. Reid was the first to notice, then Garcia and JJ both noticed the subtle and occasional turning of his head and looking behind out the corner of his eye. Garcia and JJ were equally subtle and not a word was exchanged, but before long, all five BAU members were aware that the man sitting in an otherwise empty row about a dozen rows behind them was Jason Gideon.

Then it came time for Byron Sheffield to take Center Stage with his cello. After brief applause when the Dean/MC announced his name, the audience as a whole was at the same level of very soft murmuring as with the previous performers. But in the BAU's row, the team members and Dr. Manahan were reverently silent, while Sarah Jean and her mother both began sniffling and weeping as soon as Byron stepped out of the wings and appeared from behind the curtain.

As Byron began his Bach Suite, the FBI members continued their reverent silence, while Sarah Jean and Mrs. Mason continued to weep and escalated from sniffling to sobbing, although not so conspicuously as to draw attention from others besides their immmediate neighbors. Subtly glancing backwards, the BAU members saw that their colleague behind them was quiet and may have been weeping, but they couldn't be certain of the latter due to the distance and low lighting. By the time he was finished and the audience erupted in its loudest applause to that point, Sarah Jean and her mother were clinging to each other and crying into each other's shoulders.

As he finished and some of the audience started to stand up, the Dean/MC stepped back up to the podium and announced: "Ladies and gentlemen, before we actually start our intermission, young Mr. Sheffield has requested and been given a chance to do a short second number, which was too late to include in the program. The number is a cello arrangement for Anton Rubinstein's _Kamenny Ostrov_, or _Stony Island_."

"No way!" Reid raised his eyebrows and gasped to Garcia. "No way this is just a coincidence!"

"No way _what_ is just a coincidence?" Garcia whispered back.

"Shh!" Reid raised his hand as Byron raised his bow and began the haunting adagio.

"Oh!" Garcia gasped loudly after Byron played a few bars, then said much more softly, "You're right! I didn't know the name of the piece, but I know exactly what you're talking about!"

"What's going on?" JJ whispered from Reid's other side.

"We'll explain afterward," Reid whispered back.

Sarah Jean and her mother resumed their weeping and soft sobbing at the melancholy music, but Reid and Garcia surmised to themselves that they were unaware of any hidden meaning. As Byron finished, the audience burst into applause that matched that which they gave his Bach Concerto.

"_The Walking Dead_, an old Boris Karloff movie from 1936," Reid explained to JJ, careful not to let Sarah Jean and Mrs. Mason overhear. "They used Anton Rubinstein's _Kamenny Ostrov_ as the theme music."

"_The Walking Dead_?" JJ looked at him with a bemused smile.

"Boris Karloff plays a man on Death Row," Garcia added, "wrongly convicted of murder. He's a bar musician who's been framed by gangsters. The order from the governor vacating the conviction arrives too late for him, but after he's electrocuted, a mad scientist claims his body and brings him back from the dead."

"_Kamenny Ostrov_ was originally written for piano," Reid continued, "and Karloff's last request is for it to be played as he's walked to the Death Chamber, but there's no piano available so they find a cellist to play it for the walk."

"Wow!" JJ whispered, shooting a quick glance toward Sarah Jean, "You're right! No way it's just a coincidence!"

They joined the rest of their party and the majority of the audience in going up the aisles toward the lobby. Morgan and Reid reached the exit just in time to see Gideon step into the Men's Room at one wing of the lobby area.

"Shall we?" Morgan smiled as he and Reid glanced at each other.

"May as well," Reid shrugged.

They entered in time to see Gideon zip up his fly and step away from one of the urinals, then stand before the row of wash basins and start washing his hands.

"You know, Gideon," Morgan said softly as he and Reid moved to flank him, "the Sheffields had reserved seats for you and Hotch in our row if you want to join us for the second half. And of course you're welcome to fly back with us in the morning."

"No, thanks, Morgan," Gideon turned to him, a frown barely detectible on his lips. "I'm here on my own dime, both with airfare and admission."

"Just making the offer," Morgan said, then after a pause added, "Byron sure has all the talent he's been said to have, and then some."

Gideon looked at him with his frown more pronounced, then drew a deep breath and pursed his lips before saying, "Yes, and now he knows his biological father was a serial rapist and killer. Everything Sarah Jean was willing and prepared to go to the chair to keep from happening."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Morgan asked. "The Sheffields haven't said a word to the kid!"

Gideon turned to Reid. "You're the big classical movies fan! You want to explain to him the significance of a cello arrangement of Anton Rubinstein's _Kamenny Ostrov_?

"That's what Garcia and JJ and I were whispering about," Reid said to Morgan. "We didn't want Sarah Jean or Mrs. Mason to overhear." He quickly repeated to Morgan what he had told the others about _The Walking Dead_.

"Okay, so the Sheffields must've told him," Morgan rolled his eyes. "They're the only ones who could have. Had to have been within the past couple of days or so, because when the Sheffields sent me the tickets on Tuesday, they said our row was far back enough that Byron wouldn't be able to recognize me, Elle or Sarah Jean from the stage. They were still worried about keeping the truth from Byron at that point. But he's a bright kid. He may have figured it out himself."

"Either way," Gideon replied, "this is something we could have avoided."

"My God, Gideon!" Morgan looked at him in disbelief. "Are you telling me that after all that mess with IA, and the ass-chewing you and Hotch got from the Director, you still think we should've let Sarah Jean go to the chair and take her secret to the grave?"

"That's what she wanted."

"Three weeks ago! You haven't even talked to her since." He shook his head, threw up his hands and stepped over to the urinals. Reid followed him slowly, unsure whether to say anything more to Gideon.

* * *

At the other end of the lobby, Sarah Jean and Deb Mason were still overwhelmed with emotion, requiring support from JJ, Garcia, Elle and even Dr. Manahan to regain their composure as they sat in the outer lounge of the Ladies' Room. After over fifteen minutes, mother and daughter both managed to stop weeping and dry their eyes, but decided to forego reapplying eye makeup.

"Ready to go back out there?" Elle asked them.

"Yes," Sarah Jean nodded and whispered. Her mother nodded in concurrence.

The four female FBI members escorted them through the door back into the lobby. They took only a few steps before a woman about Sarah Jean's age approached them.

"Good evening, Sarah Jean. It's been a long time!"

Sarah Jean and her mother both jumped and then froze. She knew who it had to be even without recalling the voice or the face and allowing for fifteen years of aging for both.

"Gayle!" she gasped. "I... I'm sorry! I... I know I owe you and Frank my life, b... but please! I... I can't be seen with you!"

"Of course you can!" Gayle Sheffield smiled. "And there's someone who'd like to meet you!"

"No!"

Gayle stroked Sarah Jean's shoulder. "It's all right, Sarah Jean!" she whispered.

"He knows?"

Gayle turned toward the open doors to the auditorium and nodded. Byron Sheffield stepped out and toward them with Frank a few steps behind. His apprehension was nearly as great as Sarah Jean's and Mrs. Mason's. He reached out and took both of Sarah Jean's hands in his, both pairs trembling, just as Gideon, Morgan and Reid crossed the lobby to within earshot of them.

"Hello," Byron smiled nervously, looking into her eyes.

"Hello... Byron," Sarah Jean said at barely above a whisper, tears streaming.

"Thank you for everything you've done for me," he said. "Especially everything you were _willing_ and about to do for me, but I'm glad you didn't!"

"You're welcome. And I'm so sorry!"

"Please don't be," Byron replied. He continued to search her face, and then closed his eyes and breathed deeply for several seconds, then looked at her again. "I remember you now. Faintly. I thought I was remembering an old dream. You're the Man-in-the-Moon lady!"

Sarah Jean sobbed loudly.

"Even when we're not together," Byron continued, "the Man-in-the-Moon will always be watching both of us!" He turned to Deb Mason excitedly. "And I remember you too! You're my Nana! Both my parents' mothers are still alive, but I always had a faint memory of another Nana, and it was you!"

"Riley!" both Sarah Jean and Deb cried out, then enveloped him in a hug. After a second, Sarah Jean said, "I'm sorry! I mean Byron!"

"It's okay. You can call me by any name you wish. You've earned that right."

Gayle and Frank Sheffield stood behind their son as he continued to embrace his biological mother and grandmother. After the embrace loosened, Gayle spoke up. "Sarah Jean, Byron has already discussed this with us. We'd all like you both to be a part of his life from now on. And since Tarkington University is just across the state line, he should be home often even when he starts there."

Sarah Jean embraced Gayle. "Oh, thank you! Thank you!"

"We realize you've been out only a few days, " Frank added, "but if you ever want your old job with us back, it's waiting for you anytime!"

"Thank you. I'll think about it."

From inside the auditorium, they heard the muffled sounds of a French horn player warming up. Those other audience members who were still milling around the lobby began to press back toward their seats.

"For now," Byron said to Sarah Jean and Deb, "I'd like to sit with you for the rest of the concert, until it's time to get ready for the finale."

* * *

The remaining performances were just as flawless as those in the first half. In between, as the performers moved off and on stage, Byron took the opportunity to explain to Sarah Jean and Deb the significance of his choice of Rubinstein's _Kammeny Ostrov_ for his encore.

Morgan continued glancing back the several rows to Gideon still sitting by himself. Even witnessing the intensely emotional reunion of Byron Sheffield with his remaining biological family had failed to nudge the slightest concession from Gideon that he and Hotch had made the wrong call, and that only the last second intercession of Frank Sheffield at his home had prevented the two of them from morally if not legally murdering Sarah Jean Dawes. None of the other BAU members still had any details of what had transpired behind the closed doors of the Director's inner office, but Gideon's lack of contrition kept bringing to Morgan's mind a cynical line from the movie _Gettysburg_ by Tom Berenger playing Confederate General James Longstreet: "We'd rather lose the war than admit to the mistake!"

Toward the end of the last solo performance, Byron got up to return backstage. Morgan rose also and preceded him to the aisle, and then instead of returning to his own seat, he stepped quietly to the row where Gideon sat. As the soloist finished to a round of applause and then stepped behind the curtain with her flute, Morgan sat in the next seat and, leaning toward Gideon's ear, said softly, "'And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go. And the maid went and called the child's mother. And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the woman took the child and nursed it.' -Exodus 2:8-9."

The curtain opened to reveal the full ensemble, with Byron seated with the rest of the string section and the Dean/Maestro taking the podium. They quickly launched into _Ode to Joy_, the last movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, the vocalists singing in the original German. They finished, of course, to a standing ovation.

THE END

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**Sorry for taking so long to finish this. Personal issues.**

**If what Morgan does with Gideon at the end seems contrived and cheesy, I still had to get the ending quotation in there with Morgan (being the central protagonist of this story) delivering it, and this seemed the best way to do it.**

**Well, as a reminder, this is my first attempt at a _Criminal Mind_s fanfic. How'd I do?**

**A quick glance through my fanfic writing will show that what I enjoy doing the most is bringing back characters from the dead who shouldn't have died, reunite couples who shouldn't have split, and often both. In my first fanfic, I keep Kevin Arnold and Winnie Cooper from _The Wonder Years_ together. [This was actually a spec script for submission to the TV show. I chose not to post it here on fanfic dotnet, but only on my own website. You can find it by using my full real name, Lyle Francis Padilla (minus the spaces) dotcom, and following the links.] In the _Bridge to Terabithia_ universe, I bring Leslie Burke back from the dead and bring her and Jess Aarons together as a couple. I reunite Kolchak the Night Stalker with his fiancee Gail Foster and then give them Buffy the Vampire Slayer and her sister Dawn as granddaughters. Elsewhere in the _Buffy_ universe, (specifically the spinoff _Angel_) I bring both Wesley Wyndam-Pryce and Winifred Burkle back from the dead and reunite them as a couple.**

**_Riding the Lightning_ was the one _Criminal Minds_ episode that screamed out to me for one of my type of fanfics. As I said in my notes to an earlier chapter, I hated to have Hotch reamed out by the Director of the FBI, but that's the way the original episode played out.**

**If there are any other _Criminal Minds_ episodes that cry out to you for the MadTom treatment, I'm open to suggestion.**


End file.
